ABERDEEN, Scotland, Aug. 31 -- COPD patients may be as much at risk from air pollution inside their homes as they are outside, researchers found.
Fine particulate pollution levels in the homes of COPD patients reached on average of up to four times higher than the maximum recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in a study reported in the Sept. 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The higher levels-mainly from secondhand smoke-were significantly linked to greater symptom burden (P<0.01), said Liesl M. Osman, Ph.D., of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary here, and colleagues.
Outdoor air quality, including particulate matter levels, have been well documented to have an impact on respiratory mortality and hospital admissions, they said.
But, "indoor air quality has assumed greater importance for health," commented Mark D. Eisner, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of California, San Francisco, in an accompanying editorial.
"Residents of developed countries spend the majority of their time indoors, which provides more potential for indoor exposures," he said. "At the same time, changes in home and office building construction have resulted in lower air exchange rates, increasing personal exposure to pollutants emitted indoors."
To determine the effect of indoor air quality, the researchers studied COPD patients in northeast Scotland as part of the larger HEARTH (Home Environment and Respiratory Health) Study evaluating the impact of home improvement intervention on respiratory health.
The analysis included 148 participants with confirmed COPD in the initial cross-sectional component of the study before the intervention.
